April 22, 2013

Neal Diamond surprises Fenway for Sweet Caroline on Saturday, April 20, 2013, during the Boston Red Sox versus Kansas City Royals opening day ceremony, which paid tribute to the victims of the Boston Marathon in Boston, Massachusetts. / Faith Ninivaggi/MCT

Detroit Free Press Columnist

Our injured will get better, and they will run again, and if they cannot run, they will walk again; and if they cannot walk, they will adapt; and we will hold marathons again; and we will celebrate our freedoms; and we will win.

We will go to baseball games, gathering together in the open, with no fear or regret, people of all races and colors and religions, and we will sing the national anthem, loud and proud.

We will stand in line and pass through metal detectors before going to football games, if that is what it takes.

We will hold our arms up and let somebody pat us down before basketball games, if that is what it takes.

We will take off our caps and let a security guard look inside before hockey games, if that is what it takes.

We will open our backpacks and our purses or even our murses (hey, you know who you are) before entering a stadium, if that is what it takes.

We will throw away the liquid in our coffee cups before going through a check point, if that is what it takes.

Because that is the world we live in now.

We do not cower. We do not give in. We change. We adapt.

And we will win.

A new mind-set

I was not surprised, in any way, when terrorists attacked the Boston Marathon.

Angry? Of course. Horrified? Yes.

Surprised? Not at all. This is our world now.

It is a world of school shootings and exploding pressure cookers. And it is not surprising, in any way, that a terrorist would attack a sporting event.

Sports is the one thing that brings us together. It is our national language, our national religion, our national conversation.

In some ways, it is surprising that it hasn't happened until now. It seems such an obvious target.

Recently, I was at a major sporting event, talking to a security guard. I remarked about the overwhelming number of security guards around the arena.

"You should see what we have behind the scenes," he said.

He said there were plain-clothes officers hidden in the crowd.

And a SWAT team hidden in the rafters.

That is our world now.

That is the backdrop of our sporting events.

Think about it. Think about the thousands of games played over the last 10 years, when nothing has happened.

And let's pause, for just a second, and give credit to our security guards and our police officers, for keeping these games so safe.

Terrorists attacked the Boston Marathon from the periphery. From a sidewalk.

And that, in itself, shows how safe our sporting events have become.

I am not, in any way, suggesting we let down our guard. I'm just taking a second to praise those who have kept us so safe.

Rise above fear

9/11 changed everything.

It was a gut punch.

I was shocked. Afraid. Worried. Concerned.

I remember living in fear. Afraid of white powder coming in the mail.

I remember going to a game, wondering if we were going to be attacked.

I remember getting on a plane and holding my breath until I got off it.

For a short time, it felt like the terrorists had power over us. They could hijack planes. They could topple buildings. They could disrupt our lives. They could mess up our financial system.

But then, over time, the fear came and went.

And when they attacked the Boston Marathon, I felt no fear. I felt nothing but anger.

Will there be another attack on a sporting event? I hope not. I pray not.

But I do know this. I will not be afraid of it. The whole point of terrorism is to make us live in terror.

A pair of evil idiots with a pressure cooker cannot stop us.

We will get up and run again, and we will hold marathons again, and we will go to baseball games and football games, and we win.